PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has refused to acknowledge that Democrat Joe Biden defeated her close Republican ally Donald Trump in a free and fair election. In her first public comments specifically addressing the election results since Congress certified Biden’s victory hours after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Noem refused to say whether she erred by saying in November that some other states’ election systems were “rigged” or to cast doubt on the fairness of the election.

Instead, she said at a news conference, “I think that we deserve fair and transparent elections. I think there’s a lot of people who have doubts about that.”